Ezekiel + Mark a Bible Reading Workbook
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
K-3RD EZEKIEL + MARK A BIBLE READING WORKBOOK WEEKS 5-8 USING THIS WORKBOOK This guide will take you through 12 weeks of Bible reading. There HEARING FROM GOD TOGETHER are five readings each week. Each time you read, ask the Holy Spirit to talk to you. The Holy Spirit can help you know God better by THROUGH SCRIPTURE reading the Bible. READING THE BOOK OF MARK The book of Mark is about Jesus. When you read, think about what kind of person Jesus is. What does he like? What makes him angry? What would it be like to spend time with him? READING THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL The book of Ezekiel is about a prophet. Prophets tell people what God is thinking and feeling and doing. Ezekiel tells God’s people that God is unhappy because they are not loving God very well. Instead, they are sinning and hurting themselves and other people. Pay attention - because even though they are doing bad things, God never leaves them! WEEK 5 DAY 1 WEEK 5 DAY 1 READING EZEKIEL 10:1-22 REFLECTION Then I looked and saw the sky above the heads of the living creatures. This time, Ezekiel sees a vision of the temple in Jerusalem. If you I saw something like a sapphire gem. It looked like a throne. The remember, this is where he used to live and where he would have Lord said to the man dressed in linen, “Go in between the wheels started working as a priest before he was taken captive by the under the living creatures. And fill your hands with coals of fire from Babylonians. He sees God’s presence leave the Temple. The amazing between the living creatures. Scatter the coals over the city.” part is that Ezekiel has also seen God’s presence come to him by the river. God is with him wherever he goes! As I watched, the man with linen clothes went in. Now the living creatures were standing on the south side of the Temple when the Can you draw some of the places that God goes with you? man went in. And the cloud from the Lord filled the inner courtyard. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the living creatures. And it stood over the door of the Temple. The Temple was filled with the cloud. And the courtyard was full of the brightness from the glory of the Lord. The sound of the wings of the living creatures was heard all the way to the outer courtyard. It was like the voice of God All- Powerful when he speaks. Then the glory of the Lord left the door of the Temple and stood over the living creatures. The living creatures spread their wings. And they flew up from the ground while I watched. As they went up, the wheels stayed by their sides. They stood where the east gate of the Temple of the Lord opened. The glory of the God of Israel was over them. These are the living creatures I had seen under the God of Israel by the Kebar River. WEEK 5 DAY 2 WEEK 5 DAY 2 READING MARK 6:14-29 REFLECTION King Herod heard about Jesus, because Jesus was now well known. Did you notice what Mark wrote about Herod listening to John Some people said, “He is John the Baptist. He is risen from death. preach? He wrote, “Herod enjoyed listening to John preach. But That is the reason he can work these miracles.” John’s preaching always bothered him.” John preached that people should repent - turn and follow God. Why might that bother Herod? Others said, “He is Elijah.” Why might he like it at the same time? Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet. He is like the prophets who lived long ago.” Herod heard all these things about Jesus. He said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has been raised from death!” Here’s what had happened: Herod ordered his soldiers to arrest John. While John was arrested, he made Herod’s wife, Herodia, mad - so mad that she wanted to kill John. But Herod liked listening to John preach, even though it bothered him, so he didn’t want to hurt John. Eventually, Herodia found a way to trick her husband into killing John. WEEK 5 DAY 3 WEEK 5 DAY 3 READING MARK 6:30-44 he divided the two fish among them all.All the people ate and were satisfied. The followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of bread and The apostles that Jesus had sent out to preach returned. They fish that were not eaten. There were about 5,000 men there who ate. gathered around him and told him about all the things they had done and taught. Crowds of people were coming and going. Jesus REFLECTION and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we Right at the beginning of this passage, Jesus and his disciples take a will get some rest.” break together. They go to a quiet place to be alone and rest. Do you like quiet places? How do you like to rest? You can try right now - So they went in a boat alone to a place where there were no people. find a quiet place to be alone, and try asking the Holy Spirit to rest But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So people with you. from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. They got there before Jesus arrived. When he landed, he saw a great crowd waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things. It was now late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already very late. Send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.” But Jesus answered, “You give them food to eat.” They said to him, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people! We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.” When they found out, they came to him and said, “We have five loaves and two fish.” Then Jesus said to the followers, “Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass.” So all the people sat in groups. They sat in groups of 50 or groups of 100. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for the bread. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then WEEK 5 DAY 4 WEEK 5 DAY 4 READING MARK 6:45-56 REFLECTION Then Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go to Bethsaida Jesus keeps doing amazing miracles - healing people and multiplying on the other side of the lake. Jesus said that he would come later. He bread. But it sounds like the disciples are still surprised when he stayed there to tell the people they could go home. After sending walks on water. Sometimes, we hear about things Jesus does without them away, he went into the hills to pray. thinking about who Jesus is. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know Jesus better. See if you can write down a few words that describe That night, the boat was in the middle of the lake. Jesus was alone who Jesus IS, without using words that just say what Jesus DOES. on the land. He saw the followers working hard to row the boat because the wind was blowing against them. At some time between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. He continued walking until he was almost past the boat. But when his followers saw him walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost and cried out. They all saw him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke to them and said, “Have courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” Then he got into the boat with them. And the wind became calm. The followers were greatly amazed. They had seen Jesus make more bread from the five loaves. But they did not understand what it meant. Their minds were closed. WEEK 5 DAY 5 WEEK 5 DAY 5 READING MARK 7:1-13 REFLECTION The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your It seems like Jesus is angry! He calls the Pharisees and teachers followers don’t follow the rules given to us by our great people who “hypocrites.” These teachers were trying to bend what the Bible said lived before us. Why do they do this?” to benefit themselves - even if it meant hurting other people. Jesus reminded them that following God means also loving other people. Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he What are some ways that you love or take care of other people? spoke about you. Isaiah wrote, ‘These people show honor to me with words. But their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules they have memorized.’ You have stopped following the commands of God.